Ukraine

On 17 July 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed in Donetsk Oblast, Eastern Ukraine. All 298 people on board MH17, which was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, died. It claimed the lives of 193 Dutch nationals, 43 from Malaysia, and 27 from Australia. Other victims came from a variety of countries including Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany and the Philippines. From the start, both the investigation into the cause of the crash and the criminal investigation into the downing of Flight MH17 were severely challenged due to the ongoing armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists, supported by the Russian Federation, and the Ukrainian government.

The Chernobyl nuclear tragedy had a tremendous impact on the global community. This nuclear disaster has changed the attitude of nations to nuclear safety. After the nuclear accident, new standards and strategies for improving nuclear and radiation safety, emergency response and disaster mitigation have been developed. Since the Chernobyl accident the International Atomic Energy Association has adopted many security related legal instruments have been adopted to increase nuclear safety and security on a global and domestic level.

Today, Wednesday April 6th, citizens in the Netherlands can cast their votes in an unprecedented advisory referendum. The question put to a vote is whether the Dutch government should ratify the European Union’s Association Agreement with Ukraine or not. This blog provides some background of the EU’s Association Agreement with Ukraine and the lead up to today’s referendum.

The unfolding crisis in Ukraine has brought the world to the brink of a new Cold War. As Russia and Ukraine tussle for Crimea and the eastern regions, relations between Putin and the West have reached an all-time low. How did we get here?

This month, our first time guest editor and colleague, Ms. Anna Duszczyk, invited Dr. Christian Noack from the University of Amsterdam, for an in-depth interview on the current crisis in Ukraine. Dr. Noack is an expert on Eastern European History, Media Studies and Slavonic Studies. In this interview, he will discuss his views on the current political situation in Ukraine and the role of Russia and the European Union in the crisis.

In the last week Russian military forces have occupied Crimea, the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula where the majority of the population is ethnic Russian and the Russian Black Sea Fleet is deployed in the city of Sevastopol. In the Russian constitution a few articles describe circumstances where a primacy of Russian constitutional law above international law may occur. How does Russia legally justify its intervention? Guest Blog by Anna K. Duszczyk.

Although Yanukovych has claimed many times to seek good ties with Russia and the EU simultaneously, it seems that by refusing to sign the Association Agreement (AA) and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) with the EU last November, the power balance is tipping towards Russia. As an alternative to further EU integration, Russia has been actively promoting Ukraine to join the Russian-led Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, which in the future could progress towards a further integrated Eurasian Union.

In recent years, the actions of FEMEN have been featured in many international media outlets. Originating as a Ukrainian feminist movement in 2008, FEMEN has since acquired an international position, establishing their European headquarters in Paris and expanding their focus on women’s rights violations worldwide. Nowadays the movement’s voice is heard all over the world. The FEMEN movement describes itself as “a founder of a new wave of feminism of the third millennium”. Their goal, like many other feminist activist groups in the past, is undermining the foundations of the male dominated world.

On Tuesday 3 February 2009 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rendered its Judgment in the case concerning Maritime Delimitation in the Black Sea (Romania v. Ukraine). A public sitting took place at 10 a.m. at the Peace Palace in The Hague, during which the President of the Court, Judge Rosalyn Higgins, read the Court’s Judgment.

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International Peace and Security

Nowadays many international or regional organizations are involved in peacemaking, peace-enforcing and peacekeeping activities. In fact, they send multinational forces to the various conflict areas. While the expression ‘collective security’ does not occur in the United Nations Charter, it is often used to refer to the system for the maintenance of international peace and security under the UN Charter.